Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade
premiered on May 24, 1989, in
2327 theaters across the US
and Canada claiming the biggest
seven-day opening in film history,
with receipts close to the $50
million mark. Although the summer
of 1989 was dominated by sequels
of some of the most profitable
movies ever made, like Ghostbusters
II, Lethal
Weapon II, James Bond's
License
to Kill etc, Last
Crusade was the second
most popular film in the US
with final box-office tally
of $ 195 million, right after
Tim Burton's gothic epic Batman,
and the box-office champion
worldwide.

Steven
Spielberg.

There
were people who at the time
of the new film's release accused
Lucas and Spielberg for making
another Indy film. George Lucas
had just got divorced from his
wife Marcia and he had given
all his money in order to retain
the control of his companies.
Spielberg on the other hand
hadn't direct anything successful
since Temple
of Doom while his serious
attempts towards a mature audience
with films like The
Color Purple and Empire
of the Sun got unnoticed
and criticized by the critics
with less than kind remarks.
The word was that they both
needed a success soon, in order
to maintain their status in
the film business but poisonous
remarks like these never bothered
the two filmmakers much.

Proud for his
work Spielberg stated that he
made the film as an apology
for Indy
II, "I wanted to
make a movie I could stand naked
on top of."

Ford
as Indiana Jones.

The key to the
success of the film was the
wonderful teaming of its two
stars. Early on, when it was
announced that Sean Connery
would be cast opposite Harrison
Ford there was a bit of concern
about how the chemistry would
work in putting them together.
Since both Ford and Connery
have been these extremely large
screen personas there was the
fear of the two actors becoming
competitive to each other thus
jeopardizing the production.
It wouldn't be the first time
to happen on a movie set. Fortunately,
they clicked as actors and as
characters from the very beginning.
There was nothing competitive
in any of it and what resulted
were great performances from
both. Harrison Ford having Sean
Connery opposite him delivered
his best performance as Indiana
Jones, while Connery was marvelous.
"It was a brilliant idea
to bring Sean in," said
Ford. "I want all the possible
support the film and I can have.
And anyway I think I can take
care of myself. I think competition
on a movie set is a big mistake."
Sharing Ford's thoughts Connery
went on to say, "I'm highly
competitive in sport, and I've
never made any secret of that,
whether its golf, tennis or
poker, but I'm not competitive
as an actor. I don't mind giving
a scene to anyone who can take
it from me."

"There is
the most wonderful chemistry
between the two of them,"
said Spielberg. "It's a
little like the Newman/Redford
chemistry in Butch
Cassidy and The
Sting. It's a real sparkle
of screen magic." "When
Sean and Harrison arrived on
the set," said Spielberg,
"everyone got quiet and
respectful. The two are like
royalty, not the royalty you
fear because they can tax you,
but the royalty you love because
they will make your lives better."

"And have
fun I did, so much that I told
Harrison, 'If you give me all
the jokes, you'll really have
to work for your scenes.'"
Connery.

The mutual respect
and admiration grown between
the two actors continued off
the set and was apparent to
any press conference they gave
by referring to one another
as dad and junior. In 1994 when
Harrison Ford was presented
with the American
Film Institute award
Connery made a congratulating
ad to the industry's prestigious
Variety
magazine saying, "I'm very
proud of you, Dad."

River Phoenix,
although, he had a very small
part in the picture he was hailed
by critics. One of them wrote
that if Harrison Ford ever decided
to hang up his whip the character
of Indiana Jones was in very
good hands but Phoenix rushed
to say, "I don't think
that anyone could ever do justice
to the character of Indiana
Jones. A production without
Harrison would never be that
good. I think it should remain
the way he has done it."

In England, where
the film was premiered on June
27 and attended by the Prince
of Wales,
Last Crusade grossed
15.923.000 pounds.

In France, Indy
met a real apotheosis. Within
two and a half weeks from its
release, Last
Crusade broke the one
million tickets barrier in Paris
establishing an absolute record.
Four million French run to 310
theaters in France for their
rendezvous with their favorite
archaeologist. In the long run
the
Last Crusade made a gross
of 6.248.000 tickets.

Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade
entered the top-10 of box-office
champions with a worldwide gross
of $494.8 million.

Following the
hype the film had generated
Indiana Jones' brown fedora
and leather jacket became national
treasures when Harrison Ford
personally presented them to
the Smithsonian
Institution's National Museum
of American History in
Washington DC. The event was
a publicity triumph much like
the film's premiere. "I'm
very flattered to be here and
to have these artifacts on display
here", said Ford to the
hordes of reporters in attendance.

Ford
presenting the fedora and
leather jacket.

Unfortunately,
Indy's whip didn't have the
same fate. Harrison Ford kindly
donated it at the Christie's
London auction house
in aid of the Institute
Archaeology in London.
The auction took place on Christmas
1990 and the cinematic artifact
was sold at the price of $24.300
to the owner of Paris's City
Rock Cafe. But Ford did
confess to having another at
home. "It's on the top
shelf of my hall closet, handy
in case I need it".

The final shot
of the
Last Crusade with the
four intrepid adventurers literally
riding off into the sunset,
towards new adventures, was
one of the many hints revealing
Spielberg's intentions on the
continuation of the Indiana
Jones saga. "I built every
clue into this movie I possible
could think of to let George
know that we should retire this
guy's number. I did all I could.
But at the moment I think I'd
like to quit. At this point
we all feel pretty much have
a nice first, second and third
act. Why go and create a forth
act? We don't need one."

When talked to
journalist Phil Brown Spielberg
was very clear about his intentions
of making another Indy film,
"I don't control the destiny
of the Indiana Jones movies.
George can make as many as he
like but it's certainly my graduation
gift to be able to work on something
like this in the best way possible,
say goodbye to all my old friends
and move on." Tough he
agreed that his decision was
not one without regrets. "I'm
really going to miss working
with Harrison as Indy. I look
forward to working with him
in other sorts of roles, but
I'll really miss sitting with
him in that hat and that jacket
with all the sweat and the dirty
khaki shirt and the boots and
the whip and the pouch and the
sidearm and the five-day stubble
and most of all, I'll miss his
sense of humor. Working with
Harrison as Indy was kind of
like working with Fred C. Dobbs
from The
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
for eight years and I'm going
to miss that very much."

Creator
George Lucas.

Spielberg wasn't
the only one stating that he
wanted to move on, as George
Lucas, too, found the prospect
of another film unlikely. "I
don't foresee there being another
one. Anything is possible, but
I've run out of ideas. I've
had a great time making the
Indiana Jones films, but now
it's time to move on. I would
just as soon do other things,"
said Indy's creator.

Robert Watts,
being more conciliatory than
the two filmmakers went on to
say that, "It was always
envisioned as three movies,
this is the third and it's called
The
Last Crusade. Sean Connery
was never going to make another
Bond film, but he did. I couldn't
tell you, to be honest whether
there will be another one. I
don't know um it's possible
but I suspect it would never
be quite the same team again,
but I couldn't tell. I think
the formula has been very successful
and I think the movies are great
fun. I personally would love
to see another one get made,
but ultimately it's not my decision,
so all I can say is, 'Wait
and see!'"

"Indy doesn't
die at the end," was Boam's
observation. "His father
doesn't die. Sallah and Brody
don't die. Nobody dies. We haven't
burned any bridges. We all know
how this business works, and
that never doesn't necessarily
mean never." John Rhys-Davies
shared the same thoughts that
Boam had about the continuation
of the saga, "In the film
business the door is always
open just a crack. Harrison
is more of a mainline leading
man these days and I'm not sure
that he really wants to do any
more Indiana Jones films. And
this isn't really the sort of
films Steven wants to direct.
I think he's more into areas
of the human heart than action
and adventure. But you never
know."

Spielberg,
Ford & Lucas.

The last person
to speak for Indy's future was
none other than Indy himself.
Although the role of Indiana
Jones was the one that catapulted
Ford into stardom he was eager
to take other, more dramatic
roles in the future and the
prospect of another Indy film
didn't sound as the right choice.
So in early interviews (prior
to the film's release) he wanted
to clear out that he was moving
on. "Nobody has proposed
doing any more of them. We all
have other ambitions, other
projects. It took us a long
time to find a script we were
happy with for this one. Since
we are locked in a timeframe,
which demands I don't get any
older, we can't take forever
to settle on another script,
either. It's been eight years
since the first picture, I believe.
It would be another four or
five years before we have a
script and I'd be in my fifties.
It might be unseemly."
But even for smoothie Ford,
who doesn't want to admit this
is his favorite role, the idea
of another one wasn't completely
out of question. In an interview
he gave to MTV's
The
Big Picture show he seemed
more conciliatory and said,
"I don't think we've run
Indiana Jones into the ground.
He's a romantic, but he's also
a cynic. The interplay between
the two extremes is what interests
me so much. And it's his bravery,
indomitability, and selflessness
that make him irresistible to
audiences. And for what it's
worth, we simply haven't exhausted
all the dangerous situations
he can get into. If there is
something I learned from Sean
is to never say never!"

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